Numbering-head.



' w. 11. SMITH.

NUMBERING HEAD. APPLICATION II LBD AUG. 3, 1910.

986,234. PatentedMar. 7, 1911.

jz'd- 7. i 2. 4

- 1 1 forum UNITED L STATES Pr sm "OFFICE.

warren SMITH, or mass, orno, nssrenon re rm': -,K Antus nuromarrc PRESSCOMPANY, OF NILES, OHIO,

A eonrona'rxontor OHIO.

NUMBERING-HEAD.

Application filed August a, 1910. Serial No. 575,292.

To all whom it may concern} Be it known that I, WALTER Il. Saturn, aresident of Niles, in the county of Trumbull and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Numbering-Heads: and 1do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

It is well known that in starting the operation of a numbering machine,or a press using numbering heads, it is necessary for the operator tothoroughly ink all the heads, that is, each and-every character of eachdie wheel of each numbering head for printin This is ordinarilyaccomplished by manually advancing each die-wheel one point and thenrunning the ress with the ink rolls duly setfor severe revolutions. Thisinks all the numbers of due row. Then the diewheels are severallyadvanced,-one at a time, each one number, and then the new row is inked.This oieration of advancing by hand each num er of each die-wheel andinking eilch row is repeated as many times as there are charactersaround the diewheels.- In highclass Work it is necessary to ink thedie-wheels from five to seven times in order to secure uniformity inprint. This lnkmg operation consumes much time, 68138012111 on resseswhere there are a pinrality o hea s.

The primary object of my invention is a) rovide each numbering head withmeans or automatically turning all the dic whcels in unison so as toadvance all of the die. Wheels conjoint-1y in each operation withoutchangin the numbers in any row, thus enabling a l of the characters tobe inked in a comparatively few operations. And a' further object is toprovide simple and highly eflicient means for controlling such attachment.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure .1 is a side elevation,.w1th artsin section, showing a numbermghea equipped with my. improvement. .F1g. 2is a sim lar-view showin the parts in operative osition.

Fig. 3 1s a plan view. Fig. 4 is an e evation partly in section showinga slight modification. Fig. 5 is a rear viewand Fig. '6 'a fragments?perspective view of the parts shown in ig. 4.

means normally inoperative so as to ermit the die-wheels to erform theirusua funct1on,'the numbers lieing changed in each operation and thewheels successively rotated, but which when thrown into operation servesto etfect the simultaneous rotation of all the die-wheels automaticallywithout changing their relative positions.

I will-describe my invention as applied to a standard numbering head, ofa well known type, comprising a serieslof die-wheels carpawl carrierbeing actuated by ashaft Th1s construction 1s well known and hencefurther description thereof is unnecessaiy.

Patented Ma 1911.

These actuating Although I do not restrict myself to any special meansfor carrying out my invention, yet I have found that bestresults areobtainedby mountin on the pawl carrier :1 second. series.of paw s 10 prQeetin from a common plate 12, which 13 ivotex on the carrier and onwhose pivot 1s a sprin 13, the oilice of which is'to throw the paw ssimultaneously Iinto en a meat with the ratchets of the severa iewheelsfi Normally the p'awls 1.0 are held ino erative' so that theycannot engage the rate cts of the die-wheels in the reci rocation of thepawl carrier. The means or holding the pawls thus ino erative may bevaried, and when the attac ment is to be applied to numbering headsalready in use diflerent means may be used from that which is preferablein specially constructed numbering heads.

In Fi l to 3 I have shown a wheel'ls'i mounte on the same axis as thedie-wheels, and parallel to the latter, having adjacent the peri he aseries of cams 16, in number pre era 1 a out one-half the number of theteeth in t e ratchets 2. This cam wheel also carries, on the sideopposite to the cams, ratchet teeth 17 with which an extra retainmg pawlwill engage. When-th'e'wheel is Briefly stated, my invention comprisesthe outer one of the series of pawls (see Fig. 1) all of the latter wille held ino erative' and the die-wheels will work in t e usual manner.When, however, the' cam wheel is turned so as to free the pawl of theserieslO all of the latter will be swung inwardly under the actionofspring 13 and will simultaneously enga e the ratchets of all thedie-wheels (see Fig. 2). When this occurs, at each operation of theshaft all of the die-wheels will be turned in unison without changingany die-wheel relatively to the others. Hence the numbers represented bythe several rows will remain unaltered. After the inking operation iscompleted wheel 15 is given a partial turn so that one of its cams willengage one of the pawls of the series 10 and hold all of theminoperative.

For adaptin my improvement to numbering heads a ready in'use, it may bepreferred to provide different means from that described for normallyholding thesupple- "mental pawls out. of engagement with the die-wheels.For this purpose, various means may be employed, but I lave found that abutton pivotally mounted on the pawl carrier answers every purpose. Thisbutton when placed in engagement with plate 12 of the supplemental pawlswill rock the latter on their pivot to prevent them from engaging theratchets, but when turned to free such plate the pawls Wlll, by theirspring, be thrown into engagement with the ratchets. I have shown thepivoted post of,

this button as surrounded by a spring 21 to prevent accidentaldisengagement from the pawl plate. 1

p The advantages of my invention will be readily appreciated by thoseskilled in the art. It will be seen that by means thereof a great savingof time maybe effected in inkmg all the numerals or characters andwithout changing the relation between the diewheels so that in beginninga days operation all of the characters may be inked preparatoryv toresuming numbering operations without any appreciable loss of time.

I wish it to be understood that I do not 1 restrict myself to theexactmeans shown and described for carrying out mzsinvention, sincechanges may be made wit out departing from the spirit of the invention Iclaim as my invention 1. In a numbering head havin a series of rotatabledie-wheels and means for changmg the relative arrangement of said diewheels upon each operation of the head,

means for causing all the die'wheels to be rotated simultaneouslywithout altering the relative arrangement produced by the firstmentioned means.

2. In a numbering head having a series of rotatable die-wheels and meansfor changing the relative arrangen'lent of said die 'of rotatabledie-wheels and means means for causin all the die-wheels to be partiallyrotated 1n each operation without altering the relative arrangement bythe first mentioned means. e

3. In a numbering head having a series or changproduced ing the relativearrangement of said die wheels upon each operation of the head,means'for causing all the die-wheels to be rotated simultaneouslywithoutaltering the relative arrangement produced by the first mentioned means,and means for normally holding the second mentioned means inoperative. Iv 4. In combination with a numbering head having a series of rotatablediewheels, means for changing'the' relative arrangement 'of saiddiewheels upon each operation of the head, a carrier for said means, andmeans carried by said carrier for rotating all the die-wheels in unisonwithout altering the relative arrangement mentioned means. w

In combination with a numbering head having a series of rotatabledie-wheels, ratchets therefor, a pawl carrier, and pawls for engagingsaid ratchets to effect the successive rotation of the die-wheels, meansfor produced by the first actuating the pawl carrier, and means carriedby the pawlcarrier for causing all the die-wheels to rotate in unison.

6. In combination with a numbering head having a series of rotatabledie-wheels, ratchets therefor, a pawl carrier, and pawls for engaginsaid ratchets to effect the successive rotatlon of the die-wheels, meansfor actuating the pawl carrier, means carried by the pawl carrier forcausing all the diewheels to rotate in unison, and means fornormally'holding said latter means inoperative.

. l 7. In combination wit-ha numbering head having a series ofrotatabledie-wheels, ratchets therefor, a pawl carrier, and pawls for engagingsaid ratchets to effect the successive rotation of the die-wheels, meansfor actuating the pawl carrier, :1 second series of pawls mounted on thepawl'carrierfor engaging said ratchets for causing all the die-wheels torotate in unison, and means for holding said pawls out of engagementwith said ratchets. v,

8. In combination with a numbering head having a series of rotatabledie-wheels, ratchets therefor, a pawl .carrier, and pawls for engagingsaid ratchets to effect the successive rotatlon of the die wheels',means for actuating the pawl carrier, a second series of pawls mountedon the pawl carrier for engaging said ratchets for causin all thedie-wheels to rotate in unison, and a wheel mounted concentrically tosaid die-wheels having means for normally holding said second series ofpawls inoperative. wheels upon each operation of the head,

9. In combination, a series of rotatable die-wheels having eachspaced-spurt chameters "on its periphery, ratchets carried by saidwheels, it. pnwl carrier, an actuating shaft for the latter, pnwlsmounted on said carrier for en aging said ratchets, a second series ofpaw s having a common portion mountedon said pawl carrier, said secondseries of pawls being designed to engage said ratchets, and a wheelmounted concentrically with said dle-wheclsnnd having a series oi cams,less 111 number to the characters of the die-wheels, for engagin" one ofthe puwls of said second series for Tmolding all of them inoperative.

Intestimony, whereof, I have signed this 15 specification in thepresence of two subscribin witnesses.

WALTER 1L SMITH.

Witnesses i A. D. Loor, it. A. Bm-nazn.

